Scandal, sex and soccer: recent Mexican soccer news

Mexican soccer is currently awash with interesting stories both on and off the field.

The most attention grabbing has been regarding the national team and a party in a Monterrey hotel after the September 7 game against Colombia.

The Mexican Football Federation (FMF) fined 11 players 50,000 pesos for their part in the shindig. Two players, Efrain Juarez and Carlos Vela, were banned from the national team for six months.

Then, last week team captain and New York Red Bulls star Rafael Marquez responded by penning a letter stating that he and the other 12 players sanctioned were refusing to play again for the national team until the directors clean up their act. (Mexico still has no permanent manager despite knowing Javier Aguirre would leave before the World Cup). All the other players, including Manchester star Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez supported Marquez verbally but didn’t sign the letter, according to Marquez.

In the letter, Marquez called for a cleaning up of the FMF and also seemed bizarrely to put himself in the frame to head the organization. The Mexican press was split between supporting the players’ demands for more organization and decrying them for acting like babies spitting out their dummies when the FMF punished the players.

The latest news is that Marquez says he will play for the national team and that there has been dialogue between him as captain and the FMF.

The players’ case wasn’t helped in any way when transvestite Yamille, also known as “Gema,” came out last week and said Fulham left back Carlos Salcido invited him to a party in the players’ hotel. In a video interview with TVNotas, she also recounted a sexual encounter the two had in the bathroom, described by Yamille as “oral sex.”

The two met via Facebook in April earlier this year, according to Yamille, who would easily pass as a female to be fair to Salcido, but it wasn’t until after the September 7 game that the two actually met.

Yamille described the “moral hangover” she felt after the incident, as Salcido had no idea that he was a man. The transvestite, who appeared on a high-class prostitutes website, told Salcido later and he was said to have been a little shocked. Yamille also apologized to Salcido’s wife.

Salcido denies the event happened and is suing the transvestite.

One newspaper columnist asked the question that if Salcido did what he did and only got a 50,000 peso fine, then what could Juarez and Vela have done to deserve a six month ban?

In other national team news, next Tuesday, October 12, the team travel to Ciudad Juarez to play against Venezuela. Known as the most dangerous city in the world, the game is more a PR exercise than anything else. Everyone is hoping everything goes smoothly. Security is likely to be extremely tight.

In the domestic league, Cruz Azul top the general standings after a 1-0 home derby victory over the giant America on Sunday. Cruz Azul hadn’t beaten their Mexico City rivals for seven years.
In the big Guadalajara clasico, Chivas took on Atlas at their brand new Estadio Omnilife. Unfortunately, the stadium was only around half full but on the field the game was full of incident. It may be a world class venue but there is a big difference between the price people in Guadalajara can pay and the price of the tickets. Chivas owner and businessman Jorge Vergara was left with egg on his face. For many in town, the Chivas-Atlas derby is the biggest game of the season.
On the field action was highly entertaining and ended in heartbreak for the loyal Atlas fans who have seen their team win only once since late April.
After a fairly even first half in which both teams set out to get goals, the score was 1-1. On 63 minutes, Chivas player Marco Fabian had a penalty saved by Pedro Hernandez. As fate would have it, Atlas took the lead for the second time on 73 minutes and goalscorer Gerry Flores got a “Zorro” mask from somewhere, put it on and saluted away fans going crazy for their team known as the “Zorros.” Unfortunately the referee took a dim view of the humorous prank and gave Flores a second yellow card followed by a red.
Naturally, Chivas piled the pressure on Atlas but couldn’t get the equalizer. The rapid Omar Arellano and playmaker Adolfo “Bofo” Bautista pulled the strings while Atlas looked increasingly dangerous on the break as Chivas ploughed men forward.
In the first minute of injury time, Bofo broke free inside the penalty area, made his way to the byline and put in a low cross. With two Chivas players waiting for a tap in, Atlas defender Nestor Vidrio sliced a clearance into the top corner of his own net. The game ended 2-2 with the Zorros devastated.
Elsewhere and the post-season playoffs (liguilla) look to be shaping up the same as they have for the last couple of years.
Cruz Azul, Monterrey, Santos and Toluca make up the top four with San Luis, Pumas and Puebla just behind them.
The big question is whether the “big two” of Mexican football, Chivas and America, will be there along with the aforementioned clubs. The playoffs have missed them in the later stages over the last few years.

Mexican player to watch


Cruz Azul striker Javier “Chuletita” Orozco has grabbed a lot of headlines this season and is a young Mexican player to look out for. He’s scored six goals so far and recently broke into the national squad and came on to make his debut. From Sinaloa, Orozco played more baseball than football but, thankfully, he opted for the latter despite being an excellent batter.